Chapter 6 - ISABELLA’S LAST WARNING
Isabella Blackwood died eighteen months after Ethan’s birth.
Doctors called it a sudden cardiac event.
She had been recovering from complications related to childbirth.
Victor never questioned the official explanation.
Grief had made every medical word sound final.
Marlene claimed Serena visited Isabella during her last month.
“She entered through the private medical wing,” Marlene said.
“Dr. Price signed her in under another name.”
Victor felt the room grow colder.
“Why?”
“I do not know.”
“But Serena kept letters from Isabella.”
“Where?”
“In the locked drawer beneath her dressing table.”
Ruiz obtained a warrant before the drawer was opened.
Inside were photographs of Isabella holding Ethan.
There were copies of medical charts.
There was also a letter in Isabella’s handwriting.
Victor recognized it immediately.
Victor,
If Serena Montigue enters our home after I am gone, understand that she did not come because she loves you.
She and Malcolm Price have been asking about Ethan’s trust.
I found records connecting Price to Dominic Crane.
I am trying to gather proof.
Do not tell anyone until I place everything somewhere safe.
Victor read the letter twice.
It had never reached him.
Serena had taken it.
Another page contained a message addressed to Lily.
Victor looked toward Ruiz.
“Lily did not work here when Isabella died.”
Ruiz opened the paper.
The message had been written to Lily Hayes by name.
Lily,
Your mother protected me when I was young.
If anything happens to me, find Rosa Hayes.
She knows where the Blackwood witness ledger is hidden.
Victor stared at the name.
Lily had never mentioned that her mother knew Isabella.
He returned to the medical wing.
Lily sat beside Ethan’s bed.
The baby slept with his injured arm secured against his chest.
Victor handed her the letter.
Lily’s face became pale.
“My mother’s name was Rosa.”
“You never told me she knew Isabella.”
“I did not know.”
“What is the witness ledger?”
Lily shook her head.
“My mother died when I was sixteen.”
“She worked as a housekeeper in several homes.”
“She never spoke about the Blackwoods.”
Victor studied her.
“Why did you apply to work here?”
“I saw Ethan at a church fundraiser.”
“He was crying.”
“No one knew how to calm him.”
“You held him for five minutes,” Victor said.
“He stopped.”
Lily looked down.
“The agency offered me the position a week later.”
Victor had believed the recommendation came from Serena.
Cole later confirmed the application had been flagged by an old Blackwood employee file.
Someone had deliberately brought Lily into the mansion.
Isabella might have arranged it before her death.
A search of Rosa Hayes’s belongings became urgent.
Lily had kept only one box from her mother.
It was stored inside a rented room on the West Side.
When Cole’s men arrived, the door was open.
The box was gone.
May you like
On the wall, someone had written,
THE LEDGER BELONGS TO CRANE.
